The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-17
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
THE HORNET COMES NOT FROM
THE DEVIL, BUT THE LORD.

THE HORNET COMES NOT FROM |
THE DEVIL, BUT THE LORD.
1t Takes just So Much Trouble to Tit |
Us for Usefulness and for Heaven-ShaII |
We Take 1t in Bulk or Pulverized and |
Granulated?
BRooKLYN, March I3-At the Tabernacle |
this morning the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, |
ID, expounded appropriate passages Of
Scripture. He then gave out the hymn be- |
ginning:
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No! there's q cross for every one,
And there's a cross for me.
The subject Of his discourse was Singing
Annoyanccs," and his text Deuteronomy vii,
~: "ihe Lord thy God viii send the hornet"
lie sail:
It seems as if the insect world were de-
termined to war against the human race. It
is overy year attacking the grain fields and
the orchards and the vineyards. The Colo
Tado beetle, the Nebraska grGsshopper, the
Now Jersey locust, the universal potato de-
stroycr seem to carry on the work which
was begun ages ago when the insects buzzod
out of Noah'5 ark as the door was opened
in my text the hornet flies out on its mis-
sion. IL is a species Of wasp, swift in lis mo-
ton and violent in its sting. It's touch is tor
ture to man or beast. We have all seen tie
cattle run believing from the cut OF its lam
Get In boyhood we used TO stand cautiously
looking at the globular nest hung from the
tree branch, and while we were looking at
the wonderful pasteboard covering we were
struck with something that sent us shriehing
EI,p iY,s- II Lo,
captains over hundreds, and twenty Of them
attacking one man will produce certain death.
The fersiGEs attempted to conquer q Chris
ian city, but the elephants and tho beasts on
which the Persians rode were assaulted by
the hornets, so that the whole army was
broken up and the besieSed city was rescued.
This burning and noEiOus insect stung out the
HittiteS and Canaanites from their country
What the cleaning sword and chariot of war
could not accomplish was done by the pune
turc of an insect The Lord sent the hornet
Ny friends when wo are assaulted by
hehemoths Of trouble-great behemoths of
5rouble-we become chivalrc, and we assault
them; we get on the high mcttled steed of
our courage and make q cavalry charge
at them, and if God be with u.s. we come out
stronger and better than when we went
in But, alas for these insectile annoyances
things without any avoirdupois weight-the
gnats, and the midges, and the flies, and the
wasps, and the hornets In other words,
it is the small singing annoyances of our
life which drive Us out and use us up. Into
the best conditioned life, for some grand and
glorious purpose God sends the hornet.
/ remark in the first place that these small,
singing annoyances may come in the shape
Of sensitive nervous organization. People
who arc Frustrated under typhoid fevers or
with broken bones get plenty of sympathy,
but who pities anybody that is nervous9 The
doctors say, and the family says, and every
body says, "Ohl she's only little nervous:
that's ALL" The sound of a heavy foot, the
harsh clearing of throat, discord IN music,
want of harmony between the shawl and
the glove Oh the same person, a curt answer,
a passing slight, the wind from the east, any
one of ten thousand annoyances opens the
door for the hornet The fact is that the vast
majority of the people in this country are
-overworked, and their nerves are the first to
give out. A great multitude are under the
strain of Leyden, who, when he was told by
his physicians that If he did not stop working
while he was in such poor physical health lie
would die, responded, doctor, whether live
or die the wheel must keep going around !"
These persons of whom speak have n bleed
ing sensitiveness. The flies love to light on
anything raw, and these people are like the
Canaanitcs spoken of in tho text or in the
context-they have very thin covering and
are vulnerable at all points. And the Lord
sent the hornet.
Again, these small insect annoyances may
come to us in the shape of friends and ac-
qlaintances who are always saying disagree
able things. There are some people you can
not be with for half an hour but you feel
oheered and comforted. Then there are other
people you cannot be with for five minutes
before you feel miserable. They do not mean
to disturb you but they sting you to the bone
They gather up all the yarn which the gossips
spin, and peddle it. They gather up all the
adverse criticisms about your person, about
your business, about your home, about your
church, and they make your ear the funnel
into which they pour it. They laugh heartily
when they tell you, as though it were n good
Joke and you laugh too, outside. These peo-
Ole are brought to our attention in the Bible,
in tho book of Ruth: Naomi went forth
beautiful and with the finest of worldly pros
poets into another land, but after a while she
came back widowed, and sick and poor.
What did her friends do when she came
back to the cityl They all went out, and in
stead OF giving her common sense consolation,
what did they dol Read the book of Ruth
and find out. They throw up their hands and
,aid as this Naomi!" as much as to say:
allow very bad You lOok!n When [ entered
the ministry looked very pale for years, and
every year, for four or five years, a hundred
times year, was asked if l was not in a
consumption. And passing through the room
would sometimes hear people sigh and cry:
~A-ah! not long for this worldn Ircsolved
in those times that never, in any conversa-
ton. would say anything depressing, and by
the help of God have kept the resolution.
These people of whom speak reap and bind
an the great harvest field of Encouragement.
Some days you greet them with hilarious
"Good morning." and they come buzzing at
YOU with some depressing information. The
Lord sent the hornet.
IL is astonishing how some people prefer to
write and to say disagreeable things. That
was the case when years ago Henry NJ. Stan
Icy returned after his magnificent exploit OF
finding Dr. David Livingstone, and when Mr..
Stanley stood before the savants of Europe
and many of the small critics of the day, un
der pretense of getting geographical informa
fion, put to him most insoIent questions, he
folded his arms and refused to answer. Al
the very time when you would suppose al
decent nen would have applauded the hero
ism of the man there were those to hiss. The
Lord sent the hornet. And when, afterward
that man sat down on the western coast o.
Africa, sick and worn, perhaps, i'll the grand
est achievement of the age in the way of geo
graphical discovery, there were small critic
all over the world to buzz and buzz and carl
cature and deride him; and when few
weeks after that he got the London papers
as he opened them out few the hornet.
When see that there are so many peopl
IN the wcrld who like to say disagreeabl
things and write disagreeable things l COM
almost i'll my weaker moments to believ
what d man said to me in Philadelphia ON
Monday morning. 1 went to get the hors
that was at the livery, and the hostler a plail
man, said to me: SMr. Talmage, saw tha
you preached to tho young men yesterday
said "Yes" Hs said: mo Use, no usa